The bumpy road to the Highlands

As you might have gathered from my last post my mother and I were in the middle of nowhere last week. And by middle of nowhere I really mean the middle of nowhere. Bear Grylls territory. 

Our adventure started after we left the airport in our newly rented Ford Focus. Our first hurdle was getting used to driving on the right side of the road, which is of course the left. 
(By 'we' I mean my mother, getting used to the actual driving, and me getting used to giving the right directions.)
The directions we got from the website were very elaborate and not helpful at all.
It took about six sentences for me to realise we had to stay on the A9 for almost the entire drive. Although it was very reassuring to know that whilst on the A9 we would pass the Cromarty firth, which is also called the Causeway and that when we saw it would understand why it was called that, plus we would have a most marvelous view. 
By daylight I am sure we would have stared in wonder at the lovely view of the Cromarty Firth, but unfortunately by the time we drove past it was completely dark. We were tired, hungry and slowly getting worried.
Would we be able to find the cottage in the dark?
After a while we had to leave the comfort of the A9 behind for a smaller, and much darker, road. The road took us deeper and deeper into the Highlands and far, far away from civilisation. The directions warned us for some "nasty bends" and as it got darker and lonelier we started to feel that we might be on our way to the castle of Count Dracula.
After some nervous giggles at this joke, it became awful quiet in the car. 

We should have passed a deserted restaurant "The Castle Inn", which of course we didn't find, because it was dark. Doubt started to creep upon us. Were we going the right way? What if we got stranded? Would we have to spend the night in the car?
The directions told us to look out for a gate, leading into Kildermorie forest. At the end of the road, after passing a lot of sheep, we found a gate. The gate lead into a spooky forest, with a creepy road full of potholes. 
Perhaps the Count Dracula joke wasn't so far fetched after all...?

We looked first at the road, then at eachother. "No way" we said in unison. 
So we turned the car around and went back, through the sheep, taking the nast bends again and finally found a village and a hotel.

"We are terribly lost and tired. I will go no further! Do you have a room for us?" 

- To be continued-